The Uber Trip Upgrade: Everything You Need To Know

Harry here. Uber is constantly releasing new features and integrations on both the passenger and driver side of the app – some are more meaningful than others though. Today, senior RSG contributor Christian Perea takes a look at a new one called Trip Upgrade that has some interesting potential. Let us know in the comments whether you’re all for it or against it.

Over the last two weeks, Uber Trip Upgrade has been rolling out to select markets. This feature works by reassigning requests to drivers that are closer to the request that they originally accepted. The feature is part of Uber’s goal of doing everything they can to maximize efficiency in their dispatch system by minimizing wait times for passengers and drivers; aiming for the never-ending trip.

Whenever Uber launches a new feature like this, drivers are bound to be concerned with a lot of questions on how a new feature will affect their overall operations on the road. Drivers have good reason for this because a lot of these changes affect our profitability and the choices we make on the road.

The message that appears in your Uber Driver Partner app if you are in a market that had Uber Trip Upgrade.

How Does Uber Trip Upgrade Work?

Lets say you get a request that is 10 minutes away and let’s also pretend you accept it 😉 Once you accept this request (we will call it Request 1), you begin driving ten long minutes towards Request 1… hoping they don’t cancel.

Five minutes into your drive to pickup Request 1, a new request (Request 2) occurs that is only a few blocks away from you.

Let’s also say that now there is a separate driver (Driver 2) that is now available and closer than you were to your original request (Request 1).

Uber Trip Upgrade will assign you to request 2, which is closer and it will also assign request 1 to driver 2.

All 4 parties involved get a shorter trip and less wasted time.

Uber Trip Upgrade: The Good

We all know that per mile pay is lower than it used to be, so that means that having more paid driving miles is more important than ever. As a driver, you also want to shave off the dead miles and minutes since you don’t get paid. This feature stands to make drivers have less dead miles and thus earn more money, simply by not having to drive as many “dead” miles between pickups.

A lot of these features work because of Uber’s scale in passenger density and market share. As we have seen with Sidecar and even Lyft’s Destination Filter, not having enough demand leads to these features having a low impact. But if you look at Uber’s destination filter, it’s been a big hit with drivers because of the higher density.

Less Wasted Time: I cannot tell you how many times I have accepted a request only to find out there was some traffic, construction, accident, or random thing in the way that made the pickup time much longer. I’m pretty good at avoiding time sink requests but even then, I still get a few a week where I am more or less stuck with a 10 minute pickup request. So getting rid of that request sounds really nice if someone closer appears. Especially if there is a parade or street closure that prevents me from getting to the other side of the city quickly.

Surge Efficiency: Surge isn’t always easy to predict. Some of it is, but for the most part it’s kind of a crap-shoot. I hate getting a ride on 1.5x only to pickup that person, drive them for 30 minutes, and then hear about how surge went to 2.5X or 3.0X. Trip Upgrade won’t trade a lower surge for a higher surge, but you could potentially get bumped from a 1.5X ride to say 2.0X.

Less Thinking: If the feature only changes trips when they are better for you, then there is less stress in trying to hunt trips or manipulate the system.

No Switching of Products: Fortunately, the trip ugprade feature only works within the same product. So you won’t ever get switched from an UberX to an UberPool request.

What Is Not So Good

Passenger Ratings: The switching of trips does not take a passenger rating into account at the moment. Many drivers will not like getting switched from a 5 star passenger to a 4.7 star passenger, even if it shortens the length of the trip. This is especially true for the late night crowd, and for those who want to avoid certain areas or people for their safety.

Loss of Choice: Many drivers want to have choice in the rides they accept, myself included. It also seems to be in that legal 1099/W2 gray area. Should Uber be allowed to switch your trips if you’re an independent contractor?

Less Strategy: Along the lines of loss of choice, savvy drivers know that areas with more hotels for example, have a higher likelihood of a trip to the airport in the early mornings. If you strategically accept rides, having Uber redirect could interrupt this plan.

Can’t Decline The Upgrade: Unlike Uber’s next trip feature which prompts you with an accept/ignore button when you’re nearing the end of your trip, there’s no such option with Uber’s trip upgrade feature. If you’re in a market with trip upgrade and you get it, you have to do it.

My Take:

Overall, I think the Uber Trip Upgrade will be a good feature for the average driver. I can adapt to being redirected mid-trip since I am already used to Lyft Line and UberPOOL. If it means that I spend less time without passengers in my car, I am game for the update.

However, Uber will have to make it clear and PROVE to drivers that Trip Upgrades are really an upgrade in order for drivers to trust the system. I think Uber has lost a bit of drivers’ trust over the years by telling us things like ‘lower rates mean higher earnings for drivers’! But we’ll have to see how this feature plays out in real life. There’s a lot of potential for trip upgrade to work in the driver’s favor, but if not, it could be viewed as another way of manipulating driver earnings via the good ol’ switcharoo.

Uber Trip Upgrade FAQ

Will Trip Upgrade switch my UberX to UberPool?

Uber is only upgrading trips that occur within the same product. So if you accept an UberX you will only be upgraded to other UberX rides. It will not downgrade to UberPOOL. So you don’t have to worry about getting “downgraded” to an UberPOOL request if you originally accepted an UberX (or an UberX if you originally accepted Select).

Will it switch a higher surge ride to a lower surge ride?

No. Same surge or higher.

What about from lower to higher surge?

Yes. If the new trip is on a higher surge it will upgrade to the specifications of that trip. So if the second request is on 2.0x, it will pay you 2.0x. Even if the first request was originally at 1.2x. Uber really stressed this point to me.

Does the drive have a choice in accepting the new request?

No. If this is in your market, then Uber will automatically reassign the trip in a similar way that it adds an UberPOOL passenger

Will my trip upgrade to a passenger with a lower rating?

The passenger rating has no affect on whether or not your trip gets switched on an upgrade. So you can go from a 5.0 passengers to a 4.6 rated passenger if the trip is switched.

Is Uber Trip Upgrade in my market yet?

Uber Trip Upgrade is being tested in a few markets right now, but Uber intends to roll it out to other markets after they fine tune its specifics and test it. If you don’t see it yet, expect to see it soon.

Readers, what do you think of the Uber Trip Upgrade?

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In 2014, Christian left his job at a mental health center to drive full time for Lyft and Uber. Since then, he has driven for mostly Lyft with a little bit of Sidecar and Postmates thrown in for experimentation and Uber when he doesn't feel like talking to people. He likes to talk about Politics and Economics over a good beer to whoever will listen to him.

I like the idea of less dead miles. I’m concerned about getting lower rated pax and last-second navigation changes.

Christian Perea

Me too..especially if navigation is slow to load. Its frustrating because there is a 3-10 second period where you are “lost” while the new nav loads and you get your “bearings”

john

I’m 100% for this because it makes so much sense. The norm is obviously going to be when if we’re driving somewhere and it reroutes us to a closer rider which is great but also there’s the case where we drop someone off at a restaurant and another passenger approaches thinking we’re their driver but we’re not, even though we’re there they are waiting for someone else to get there and if every once in awhile that switches to us that’s great as long as the other driver is also taken care of which this does..This is not a new concept but I can appreciate it takes time to create these things.

As far as a down side, in my almost 3 years I’ve never ever accepted/rejected a ride request based on someone’s rating and can’t remember ever even looking except when they ask what their rating is. I understand it matters to some, for me I just pick em up/drop em off. If they’re nice that’s a bonus.If not then that’s fine too because I know in 10 minutes I’ll drop them off and maybe never see them again. I just care that they buckle up/don’t throw up. Sure I’ve got a few stories of jerks including the person who was so rude due to me asking HER to leave her beer behind that I made them exit and they then told Uber I’d been drinking/driving. Too bad I took rides just prior to and after theirs that debunked their BS story. Hmm, I wonder what HER rating was lol. I can really only think of 3 rides out of 7500+ that I’d prefer to have turned back the time machine and refused. Anyway, to each his own on whether they take rider rating into account.

Nancy Ryden

I might just have to “borrow” your slogan, if I may! “Buckle up & don’t throw up” 🙂

Christian Perea

+1. Would look great on a tipping sign too!

Richard Markus

If the original trip was 1,2 and the new one is 2.0 surge, then Uber will have to pay both the first and second drivers at the 2.0 surge?

Christian Perea

Thats a good question. I think when the second driver gets pinged, it will show up as 1.2x for them to accept or deny. For the original driver, it will only switch up in surge pricing.

Nancy Ryden

I think this is a splendid move!!! One question though – I drive all 3 levels of service. Will it switch UP a product (or 2 in my case), if I’m driving an X pax, and the closer request is for XL or Select?

Christian Perea

Right now, its just sticking with the same product but they are probably going to work on switching up in products in the future.

Nancy Ryden

Thanks!

Clybourn

This needs to be made into an option. It definitely violated the independent contractor/employee status guideline

Christian Perea

I think that would be nice to have. Or an opt-out feature. Uber could still get what they want (lots of people using this) if they allowed a driver to “opt-out” of this sort of thing.

Richard Markus

So if I am using Waze to navigate and then Uber switches my pickup destination will the Waze change automatically or will I have to close it nd then open it agin oir will it default to Google maps like Uber Pool does while Waze is still giving me directions?

Christian Perea

I do not know. My guess would be that it acts the same as UberPool, althought there should be a notification/Uber popup that interupts waze, making you click on the navigate button within the Uber app and refresh the route.

John Ambrose

In your write-up you talk about not getting the ability to cancel the automatic request based on the riders’ ratings. Are you aware in the Chicagoland area we DO NOT get riders’ ratings displayed? I have written uber and at first it was a “bug” but later they admitted the removal of the rider ratings is to “eliminate racist choices” (my words) by drivers when choosing who to pick up and who not to. Harry, have you ever written an article on Chicagos’ decision to not post rider ratings or researched how and why it is ok for uber to do this? As an independent contractor (as uber constantly contends) I do not like having the ratings tool removed from my use while passengers are still free to affect my ratings. PLEASE DO A RIGHT UP ON THIS.Thanks.

Christian Perea

So you cannot see any of your passengers ratings while driving in chicago?

John Ambrose

No. Uber removed these from view months ago.

Sajid Mulla

Actually the fact that they don’t let you is very dangerous. There are some passengers that will give you a bad rating no matter what you do. There are others who are dirty and will screw up your car seats. I don’t exclusively rely on the rating most times, but the one time I was wondering why the rating was so low was this African American girl hated gays with a vengeance.

I didn’t know why the passengers ratings are so low but now I know and I even pay attention when picking up because I don’t want to get into a heated debate about racism, and two I want to keep my car clean to continue driving. The fact that we are required to have our mugshots when picking people up and the passenger not being able to is a very serious detriment. It is even worse because you live in Chicago and is dangerous over there.

Usually if Uber does something and gets away with it Lyft does copy it too, so beware of that as well.

Armando Lentiny

Or switch you from what could have been a long trip to a shorter one. I’m not for this.

Christian Perea

I think it goes both ways though. It can just as easily switch you from a short trip to a longer trip…

Gene Chamson

If I get to accept or not accept the first request, I should get the same ability if the request is switched. Otherwise accepting a request becomes meaningless because all we know when we accept is the rider pickup location and passenger rating, and those can be switched AFTER we accept them.

If my pickup gets switched to a lower rated rider at a riskier pickup spot, I won’t hesitate to cancel the ride.

Christian Perea

That is the drawback to a feature like this. It means that we will have to cancel more rides if the pickup or rider is substandard.

Joseph Lane

It no longer becomes a question of riskier or substandard. It now becomes a employee/partner issue.
If they deactivate me because I cancel on rides that they “assign” me they have changed the relationship and I will collect in court. If this ever happens to me again I will pull over safely.. cancel and wait for a new request that I agree to. Lawyers will love this new scheme 🙂

Mountain Man

So many drivers are worried about the acceptance rate, what is the difference if you do not accept a ride compared to a ride you accepted and cancelled? I always thought the bonuses are based on completion percentages. So here is a scenario, if you accepted 100 rides but cancelled 10 and completed 90, isn’t that the same as getting 100 request but only accepted 90 and completed 90?

So Harry, for simplicity based on my examples above what would your AR be if you accept 100 requests and you cancelled 10 of of the rides requests and if you accepted 90, ignored 10 and you cancelled none of the rides.

If you accept 100, and cancel 10 your AR is 100% and cancellation rate is 10%.

If you get 100 requests and accept 90, ignore 10 your AR is 90% and your cancellation rate is 0%.

Mountain Man

Thanks, I always thought Uber was like Lyft where your incentive (PDB) was based on completion rate and not just on AR. Technically you can accept every ride and cancel if you like and still maintain an AR to qualify for the Uber incentive.

Tori Herman

This removes our free choice and violates our Independent Contractor status. This HAS TO become an option.

So this trip upgrade happened to me once. It cancels your first trip, and sends a new ride request for the other. It traded out what would have been a $35/40 minute airport run for a < 2 mile ride to the metra. I was PISSED. The difference in eta between the two passengers was about 2 mins.

Yea that’s a good point actually – I often call for rides as a pax and then don’t check my phone for a few minutes.

pgrubbs1

One scenario that shows no respect for riders ( and drivers ) would be (1) “Driver accepts ” (2) Driver contacts rider (3) Uber switches driver ..and like others have said here …This changes “Be Your Own Boss” to “Let Ubers Cash Flow be your boss” . The “Accept The Trip” option is false. It is now more of ” I, as your uber employee, am available for wherever and whatever ” A boss is empowered to tell an employee “where and what without input or choice”. Does that sound and feel familiar ? Uber should not advertise “Be Your Own Boss” since it has been reduced almost to “Make Your Own Hours” that is all.

pgrubbs1

A “Dispatcher” human or automated is a dispatcher. All this is, is another level of Online or Offline. If I wanted to hand over my choice to a central dispatch, I would be a taxi driver. So ,” I am online, I accept a trip and an automated dispatcher overides that .

Joseph Lane

I posted this story on another site discussing this same issue.. this is what happened to me using this “New” feature 🙁

I drop off pax, Get a ping from airport (not supposed to get those unless on property) I must have still been the closest driver to the airport so I accepted. I called the pax to let her know that I was enroute but off grounds and would take a bit longer than usual for our airport. She was super nice and said no worries. While on my way to get her I get that new rider message :(.. I clicked the icon and a couple secs later I get a cancel bell and now I have no rider just as you described.. but wait !!!!
I get another ping.. from the airport for a new rider.. Ok so I go there… Ready for it!!

Both riders have me as their driver. I can see both of their apps and I’m assigned to both of them. With no other choice but to do the one that is on my app I apologize to the ladies and proceed with then on app fare. This “feature” needs to be stopped now.. That lady will never use Uber again. She was pissed.

Hey, Harry. I haven’t see this so I don’t know if it’s here yet. But since it apparently doesn’t act like a total new request, I have this concern: how will I know I am no longer headed to the same place if I’m using an external GPS?

If it acts like a new request, Uber takes over my screen with the big blinking circle no matter what I’m doing. So there’s little (although not no) chance I’m going to miss that. But if it’s just a slight blink, etc, then I’m worried I’ll drive to the old destination only to find that rider already gone.

I agree with the other drivers. I think it should be optional and should act like a regular ride request.

It should come in just like a Pool request so you’d be re-directed via the app and then have to re-navigate.

retail

“I’m sorry to inform you that you’ll need to cancel this ride. Uber’s software has automatically paired us without me choosing to accept your ride request. Unfortunately I do not pick up rides I have not accepted so you’ll need to cancel at no charge and request a new ride.” If the rider chooses to not cancel the ride I’ll let them know that the ride will automatically cancel in 20-30 minutes and that I wish them a blessed day.

About

I'm Harry, the owner and founder of The Rideshare Guy Blog and Podcast. I used to be a full-time engineer but now I'm a rideshare blogger! I write about my experience driving for Uber, Lyft, and other services and my goal is to help drivers earn more money by working smarter, not harder. Read More…

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